IN RE PROBATE OF THE WILL OF JOSEFA DIONISIO. TEOFILA DIONISIO, PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. ANGELA DIONISIO OPPONENT AND APPELLANT.

This
is an appeal from an order of the Court of First Instance of Bulacan
admitting to probate a document alleged to be the last will and
testament of the deceased Josefa Dionisio.

The petition for
the probate of the document was opposed by Angela Dionisio, a niece of
the deceased, on the grounds (1) that the document has not been
executed in the form required by law for a valid will, (2) that at the
time of its execution the deceased was mentally incapacitated, and (3)
that the alleged signatures of the deceased to the document are
forgeries.

(1) In connection with the first ground for the
opposition, the appellant maintains that the attestation clause of the
alleged will is defective in that it does not state the number of
sheets or pages used in the document, nor the fact that the testatrix
signed every page thereof, and that it, therefore, is invalid under
section 618 of the Code of Civil Procedure as amended by Act No. 2645.
The section, as amended, reads as follows:

“No
will, except as provided in the preceding section, shall be valid to
pass any estate, real or personal, nor charge or affect the same,
unless it be written in the language or dialect known by the testator
and signed by him, or by the testator’s name written by some other
person in his presence, and by his express direction, and attested and
subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the
testator and of each other. The testator or the person requested by him
to write his name and the instrumental witnesses of the will, shall
also sign, as aforesaid, each and every page thereof, on the left
margin, and said pages shall be numbered correlatively in letters
placed on the upper part of each sheet. The attestation shall state the
number of sheets or pages used, upon which the will is written, and the
fact that the testator signed the will and every page thereof, or
caused some other person to write his name, under his express
direction, in the presence of three witnesses, and the latter witnessed
and signed the will and all pages thereof in the presence of the
testator and of each other.”

The document here in question is executed in the Tagalog language. The attesting clause reads as follows:

“Kaming
nakalagda sa ibaba nito ay pinatototohanan namin na ang testadora na si
G. Josefa Dionisio ay nasa kaniyang mahusay na kaisipan, at isinaysay
na ang kasulatang nasa itaas nito ay siya niyang huling kalooban at
testamento at pumirma sa harap naming tatlo sa ibaba ng kasulatan at sa
mga guilid ng bawat dalawang pagina, at lumagda naman kami sa ibaba
nito at sa bawat guilid ng dalawang pagina sa harap ng testadora, at
bawat isa sa aming lahat.”

This is thus translated into Spanish by one of the official interpreters of the Court of First Instance of Manila:

“Nosotros
los abajo firmantes atestiguamos que la testadora, Josefa Dionisio,
esta en su buen juicio y declaro que el documento arriba escrito es su
ultima disposicion y testamento y ella lo firmo en la presencia de
nosotros tres al pie del documento y en los margenes de las dos paginas
y tambien firmamos a continuacion y en los margenes de las dos paginas
en la presencia de la testadora y en la presencia de cada uno y todos
nosotros.”

The appellant contends that this translation is incorrect and that it should read:

“Nosotros,
los abajo firmados, certificamos que la testadora Josefa Dionisio esta
en su sano juicio y declaro que la escritura preinserta es su ultima
voluntad y testamento y afirmo en presencia de nosotros tres al pie del
mismo y en los margenes de cada dos paginas, y nosotros tambien firmamos al pie de esta clausula y en cada margen de dos paginas en presencia de la testadora y cada uno de todos nosotros.”

As will be seen, if the translation made by the official interpreter is correct, the attestation clause in the document does
state the number of pages used and also the fact that the testatrix
signed all of the pages. If, on the other hand, the version given by
the appellant is correct, the meaning would, at least, be obscure and
the clause would hardly meet the requirements of the law.

Several members of the court, who possess a knowledge of the Tagalog
language, have examined the two translations and are of the opinion
that the one made by the official translator is correct and in
conformity with the idiomatic usage of the Tagalog tongue; that anyone
familiar with the language, reading the Tagalog version of the clause
in question, would understand it in the sense given it by the official
translator; and that the literal translation furnished by the
appellant, while word for word correct, is not idiomatic. If this is
true—and as to that we have no doubt—the clause is sufficient in law.

(2) There is practically no evidence tending to show that Josef a
Dionisio was of unsound mind, at the time of the execution of the
alleged will.

(3) The greater part of the evidence before us relates to the third ground for the opposition; i. e.,
that the signatures of the deceased, as appearing in the document, are
forgeries, and eight of the nine assignments of error presented by the
appellant bear directly upon this point. Without entering into an
extended discussion of the evidence, it is sufficient to say that, in
our opinion, it amply supports the finding of the court below that the
signatures in question are genuine. We share with the trial judge his
distrust of the testimony of the “expert” Pedro Serrano Laktaw, and we
are also of the opinion that such minor differences as there are
between the disputed signatures and the admitted signatures of the
deceased are due to differences in her physical condition. At the time
the will was executed she was extremely feeble and practically a
paralytic, a fact which naturally would affect the appearance of her
handwriting. Neither do we find any merit in the appellant’s
assignments of error Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The order appealed from is affirmed, with the costs against the appellant. So ordered.

Street, Malcolm, Avanceña, Villamor, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.